


Project Lord of the Rings

by nevernatural



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dialogue Heavy, Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Mature for baaad language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 16:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevernatural/pseuds/nevernatural
Summary: "One thing." Huayu said, leaning on her elbows. "Does this arc-campaign thing have a name?" John perked up. He touched the edge of his handbook, self-consciously."It's a long one that'll be split up, I think. But I'm calling it 'The Lord of the rings." There was a moment of silence around the table. The candle light cut grooves in the shadows as a draft went through the room and Micah looked up, shivering. A beat passed."That's a shit title, Jay."Eat a dick, Clive."





	Project Lord of the Rings

A fair amount of preparation went into their sessions. They had busy schedules. With studying to work and working to stay alive and working a different job to pay their netflix subscriptions the group's main hangout place was their discord chat. (meme squad when Huayu was offline, something different when she could be bothered to change it.) But, once in a blue moon when their schedules matched and the planets aligned, they spent a week preparing for the next session and John, who had probably, at any given time, been writing for a month, put finishing touches on his notes and started eagerly - compulsively, some would call it - do his own preparations as sole hype-man for their dnd group.

"This one's gonna be really cool, I think." He'd text Clive, for the third time that night, at around 2am. And Clive would text back a nerd emoji, an ok-sign and a little dancing lady and John wouldn't know how to respond to that so he'd keep talking about the campaign. He was excited. It was going to be  _really_ cool.

It was Friday when they met again at John's apartment. By the time the pizza was there, Clive and the twins were already in his couch, talking about something that had happened in AJ's economy class. "He rolled in a tv." AJ was saying, when John had gone to answer the door. "Like an old-ass box tv, like we used to have. I wouldn't have be able to put my arms around it, it was  _massive_." Olive was laughing, face scrunched up behind her hand.

"Someone should tell mr. Hempshire that the weird box in the ceiling is a projector." Her head perked up once John came back with the white plastic bag. " _God_ , that smells good." John laughed and put the bag on the kitchen counter.

"I will let you unleash the kraken once the others get here. Lewis, help me with the snacks." Clive did as he was asked, begrudgingly and slowly, but he did it. When the door buzzed again, Olive was the one to answer the com. A broken, scratchy voice responded through the speaker and the others heard a "yes, babes, come on up" from the hallway. She returned, smiling.

"Huayu and at least one other person has arrived." The other person was Leo, making their number six now. 

"Two more." John said, holding up a finger towards the twins. "Two more and then you get to eat." Huayu and Leo were at the table putting notebooks, sheets of paper and pencils at each seat. Huayu looked up, as if suddenly remembering something, and told John that Lily would be late, by five minutes at the most. AJ groaned, a whining, pitiful sound. 

"If you'd DM at my place, everyone would be on time." He said. His sister arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. 

"Your place isn't wheelchair-friendly, dude."

"You say that as if everyone in this room isn't ready and willing to carry Micah and her wheelchair up those three flights of stairs." Olive nodded, pursed her lips.

"That's not wrong."

They spent the next five minutes putting snacks out and lighting candles on the dining table. John put up his screen to cover what he needed and assorted his sets of dice, giving one to Leo.

"You still haven't bought your own?" He asked, slightly accusatory. Leo shrugged, clicking the rust-red dice together in his palms.

"I'm busy. I don't know. You have so many, I'd feel bad if I wasn't here to use them." John laughed, putting up his hands in surrender.

The buzzer sounded one last time and John slid out into the hallway.

"Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ?" Lily's voice sounded through the speaker. John laughed loudly on his next exhale.

"For sure, for sure. Did you bring your girlfriend?" Lily confirmed with "affirmative" and John buzzed them in. "Come right up." He waited by the door this time, opening it to see Lily and Micah come out of the elevator, Micah rolling first and Lily trailing behind. "Hello ladies," he said, holding the door open for Micah to get through. The two were greeted by yelling from the living room, half excited to see them, half excited to get to eat. John let everyone take a seat at the table, standing himself with his hands on the back of his chair. On his left he had Lily, Micah and Leo and on his right AJ, Olive and Huayu. At the other end of the table sat Clive, who had started to dole out the pizza. AJ had taken his glasses off and had placed them in his dreads, clapping his hands idly. Lily and Micah were getting ready as the last ones, putting out their own notes. John breathed in deep, excited. This was gonna be good.  

"Right." He began. "Right, Lily. Get the lights?" The lights were turned off, leaving the group at the table lit in orange flame and soft shadow. "So. You've read the notes I sent you?" There were murmurs of disagreement. The difference between Clive and Johnny as dungeon masters was that Johnny liked to prepare his players with subreddits full of clues and maps while Clive preferred the act of throwing them, screaming and unwilling, to the wolves. The duality of man.

"Yeah," Olive said. "It's gonna be cool, with some of our characters knowing each other already, that's fun."

Her brother hummed. "And it saves our dm the trouble of developing interpersonal relationships." John held his hands up, outraged at the laughter.

"This is harder for me! Backstory, dude!"

Huaya nodded. "Exposition is difficult." John made a small pertubed 'thank you' in Huayu's direction and continued:

"So, you all have the maps. It's not super important and you'll have NPC's to guide you-"

"Spoiler alert."

"Shut up, Clive. So, we're starting in a place called The Shire and the other places on the map will become apparent as the story goes along. D'you wanna tell me about your characters?"

"One thing." Huayu said, leaning on her elbows. "Does this arc-campaign thing have a name?" John perked up.

"Oh shit, yeah, I'm gonna change that in the subreddit as well. Uh - " He touched the edge of his handbook, self-consciously. "It's a long one that'll be split up, I think. But I'm calling it 'The Lord of the rings." The was a moment of silence around the table. The candle light cut grooves in the shadows as a draft went through the room and Micah looked up to the ceiling, shivering. A beat passed.

"That's a shit title, Jay.

"Eat a dick, Clive. Huayu, tell me about your character."

Huayu smiled, pulling up her tablet in front of her. She began.

"His name is Frodo Baggins."

"Sorry,  _Frollo_?"

"Fro _do_ Baggins."

"Gotcha. Adorbs." 

"Frodo is a hobbit rogue, he's lawful good. He's uh, he's sort of fair-skinned, bright blue eyes, curly hair. Well - "

"Most hobbits have curls."

"Exactly, yeah. He's very inquisitive and adventurous which is kind of strange for hobbits, he likes to go exploring. People in his town, in uh - " Huayu looked to her tablet, swiped a few times, " - people in Hobbitontend to sort of avoid him, even though he's very sweet."

"So he's maybe a little weird?" John asked, pencil in hand. Huayu nodded.

"Yeah, by hobbit standards, sure. He probably, like, talked to elves in his trans-formative period or something, sure." John giggled.

"So, born and raised in the Shire, yes?" Huayu nodded again. "Alright, and like we talked about, a bunch of you probably know each other already. Especially like, uh... Who would that be... Huayu and Leo and AJ and Olive, right? You talked about that?" The four nodded. 

"Right, and." Leo started. "Huayu and I were talking - I can just, I can go next - we thought it'd be fun if my character like - worked for Frodo. So we're definitely friends but I'm also uh, Frodo's gardener?" Huayu hummed and clapped her hands and John wrote some more, smiling. "So, the gardener's name is Sam Gamgee. Samwise Gamgee. He's a hobbit Seeker, trained in nature - all about that botany - with the skills, uh... insight, perception and endurance. He's like Frodo, small, curly-haired, but maybe a bit stockier and ruddy-cheeked? You know?"

"He likes his ale?" John asked, fleshing out the characters in his mind. Leo laughed.

"Yeah, I mean - I mean, no, don't get me wrong. Sam is, Sam is loyal. He likes his ale, for  _sure_ but he's good and honest and loyal, don't get me wrong." Huayu was nodding on the other side of the table. 

"I also think that Sam is maybe one of the people who defend Frodo when, you know - "

"Yeah, yeah, when it's a Friday night and it's happy hour and the Hobbiton pub is getting  _wild._ "

"Yes!" Huayu laughed. "Yes, exactly, I think Sam probably shuts down some nasty rumors if he needs to."

John was smiling into his notebook. "Aw. I like Sam. Alright, if that's Leo done, let's move on to the wonder twins. AJ?" AJ pulled his glasses from his dreads and put them on, clearing his throat.

"Ladies and gents, I present to you, Meriadoc Brandybuck." Lily surpressed a laugh. AJ ignored it. "Merry, between friends. He's a Hobbit Bard and he's incredible. Chaotic good, because can I play anything else?"

"Fuck the police."

"Sure thing, my Italian friend. So, being a bard. I have three musical instruments, but I think Merry's favourite is the flute. Uh, he's a bit younger than Frodo and Sam but very clever and, I guess, perceptive?"

"Did you pick proficiency in perception?"

"I sure did. He's organized and planned out and uh...  yeah."

"So not you, obviously."

"Eat a  _dick_ , Clive."

"Listen - "

"Olive, you go."

"My turn, good." Olive said, laughing through her words. "Good, good. My character's name is Peregrin Took, Pippin, between friends. He is a Hobbit Bard as well and, actually, Frodo, Pippin and Merry are cousins. First cousins or something like that. But, Pippin's a bard and his favourite instrument is the lute."

"We're a dynamic duo. Lute n' Flute. Can't go wrong."

"For sure. He has three older sisters and is definitely younger than the other hobbits as well, like. I think maybe Merry and Frodo are pretty close and Pippin has followed Merry for a while, so he's become a part of the group like that? Uh, what else, he's clumsy and definitely has sort of a little brother vibe."

"Y'all are so good at names. Gosh. I love Pippin." Micah said, hands to her chest.

"I  _know_ right? Man, what a sweetheart. Anyway. Neutral good? That's it, that's him."

John nodded. " _Alright_ , those are the hobbits of the shire, dope. Then I guess we're moving on to Clive Lewis. My friend, you're up." Clive rubbed his hands together and sat up from his reclined position. John put his pencil down, assuming he wouldn't hear anything crucial enough to write down.

"Okay, losers. Meet Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Aragorn's a Human Ranger, which gives me advantage on a bunch of cool shit. He speaks common and elvish which our DM let me do because Aragorn was raised by elves in a place called Rivendell."

"What happened to his parents?" Leo asked. Clive arched an eyebrow at him.

"None of your business, you degenerate. That's what happened." John laughed and covered his eyes. Clive continued. "He was raised by elves because of circumstances certain people at this table already  _know_ on a need-to-know basis. So. Comes from a long line of royalty. Is cool as shit. Kind of old, but it's okay, because he looks fly. That's it, that's all I'm giving you." John nodded his thanks and Clive winked at him. Idiot.

Lily put her hand up. "So, I think it's pretty logical that I go next? What with backstory and everything. My character is a Wood-elf Ranger called Legolas Greenleaf."

"That's gay." 

"Oh, definitely. He's the prince of a place called Mirkwood, or the Woodland Realm, his father being king Thranduil of the Woodland Realm. Uh, he's the prettiest boy you've ever seen. I'd like to think like, native american facial structure, you know? Strong cheekbone game. And I'm not telling you kids my alignment either."

"So, like we talked about." John said. "You - Legolas and Aragorn, you probably know each other, right? Or know  _of_ each other?"

"I think know  _of_ each other, definitely, at least." Clive said. "We've maybe met once or twice but I think with Aragorn being raised in one fancy elvish place and uh, Legolas being the prince of another fancy elvish place they definitely know a bunch about each other."

"And I think what with your background, granted that you know it - "

"Yeah, he was being sort of hidden by the elves, but he knows of his like, ancestry by now."

"Right, so if you know it I definitely think Legolas knows who you are. And even with the whole arrogant, elvish mindset I think that Legolas has some respect for Aragorn, for sure." John looked back and forth between Lily to his right and Clive at the opposite end of the table, nodding along to what they were saying.

"Very good, then. Last up, Micah McDowell's." Micah smiled, drumming her hands on the arm rests of her chair. 

"Okay. So all of your names were really good and I feel kinda stupid now. But my character is a Dwarf Barbarian called Gimli. He's cool as shit. And, well, I did make a family tree for him - " Lily fell back in her chair, hand clutching her chest dramatically, "and his father's called Gloin, so uh. Well. Gimli, son of Gloin, then. He's chaotic good, which I feel is a type for us."

"Fuck the police!"

"We heard you the first time, Leo."

"Well, he's very proud. Very proud of his, you know, just in himself, he has a lot of pride in being a dwarf, which I think matters a lot to him. But also because of his family - he stems from royalty, but like, far out, so he's not inheriting the throne or anything. Uhm. The cool thing about being a barbarian is that I have a thing called 'rage' where I - well, you know this, Johnny, but I get advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws." John smiled and leafed through his handbook.

"And you have resistance or something, right?"

"Yup, while I'm in a rage I have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Oh, and because I'm a dwarf, I have 'dwarfen resistance' which is resistance to poison." Micah laughed. "Don't fuck me with, I guess?"

"Oh dude, for sure." John said. "You're a tank. Is there anything you'd like to add about your relations to the other characters?" Micah hummed.

"I mean, I think it makes sense for Gimli to at least know who Aragorn is. He's heard stories and such. And I'd like to know  _you_." She pointed at Lily next to her and Lily started humming a song John was sure was called "I wanna know you" or something gay like that. He put the pencil to his lip.

"Right. I'd like to write something about your  _fathers_ maybe. To tie you together like that, like an old feud or something." Micah was nodding, satisfied. "And maybe something to tie the two of you - " he pointed to Micah and Huayu, "together, in a way. Right. Are you guys ready? Micah, was that all?" Micah nodded again, looking through her notes. John exhaled, cracking his knuckles. "Very well. Before we begin, I'd like to read something to you. Everyone good on snacks? Pizza? Notebooks? Drinks?" He looked around as the other seven drew their hands over their preparations, changed positions in the chair. There was something exciting in the air now, prepared. Very, very nerdy. John nodded, opened his leather-bound notebook, because he was a nerd with taste, and started reading.

"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky." He paused. "Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die - one for the Dark Lord on his dark throne. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie." As he read, the seven around the table leaned in close, eyes trained on him, each other, or on the table to listen intently to what John was saying. "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie." John looked up. No one said a thing.

And so he began.

"We start in The Shire where you, Frodo, are awaiting a very special guest to a long-expected party..."

**Author's Note:**

> i know hobbit isn't a real dnd race. don't @ me  
> (for real tho. I took liberties with the rules of dnd because I wanted classes that fit with the core characters of lotr more than I wanted it to be realistic or whomever. Seeker is from dnd 4th edition. But the liberties taken with lotr timeline were the same ones the movies took - as in, Frodo didn't have the ring for twenty-something years after Bilbo left but a few years at the most, making him the same age as Pippin and Merry for this to work, rather than being Merry being the nephew of Frodo. So, I'm focusing on the movies and bringing in knowledge from the book. don't focus too much on it. it's one chapter no one's gonna read it just have fun)


End file.
